It’s All About Glasto

So Glastonbury has ended June with a bang as temperatures and spirits soar over at Worthy Farm. After a year off to let the ground have a (well deserved) rest from the thousands of festival-goers feet that have trampled the site the world famous festival is finally back again this year. With set’s from Stormzy (the first black and second youngest solo artist to ever headline the festival), Bastille, The Killers and more it’s hotting up to be a weekend packed full of action! Live coverage is available across the BBC so if you weren’t lucky enough to snag a ticket then you can watch the proceedings live from the comfort of your own bed or on iPlayer once it’s all done and dusted.

New Freddie Mercury track released from the Queen archives

This pride month we were all treated to a previously unheard music video of Freddie covering ‘Time Waits For Nobody’ and I must say that it is simply sublime. Nothing else really needs to be said about this perfect treat that took decades of searching to find, so go and watch it right now before reading another word!!!

Billie Eilish subjected to torrents of online sexual harassment

When a photo of 17 year old pop-star Billie Eilish surfaced of her wearing a tank top under an unzipped hoodie surfaced, any normal decent human being would’ve thought nothing of it...right? Nope! Even though it’s 2019 and despite the overwhelming global response to the Harvey Weinstein Scandal, people online still find it acceptable to take a photo of a child and fetishise their bodies publicly.

What makes it even worse, is that in previous interviews Eilish has said she chooses to wear baggy tracksuits to avoid being sexualised in the media. Then the first time she chose not to, that is exactly what has happened. It really does make me despair that despite the overwhelming good the #metoo movement has done, these things still happen on such a massive scale.

There’s one thing for certain, we still have a long way to go to prevent this from happening repeatedly.

It was revealed that Scooter Braun, a music industry heavyweight, bought Big Machine Records for a whopping $300million. There’s only one issue, all of Swift’s masters belong to Big Machine and subsequently now belong to Scooter too. It’s clear he knows the traditional music industry like the back of his hand, and is one of the best A&R’s in the business, creating both Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande’s whole careers, but he also knows how to bully and torment artists just as well.

When Taylor Swift signed with Republic Records last year in a groundbreaking deal, she insisted on the retention of her intellectual property on all her work released by the label, simply so nothing like this could ever happen.

Braun played a pivotal role in orchestrating *that* controversial Kanye West video, which used CGI to depict Taylor Swift — along with a host of other celebrities — naked in bed with him. So, it’s understandable why Swift is so outraged by the purchase..

The K-pop scandal continues…

This month, Gangnam Style star Psy was taken in for police question in the latest development of the sex slave scandal rocking the K-pop scene. Many of the genre’s biggest stars own a nightclub or two in major cities across South Korea, nothing wrong with that right? On the surface, you’d be absolutely right, however, date-rape and prostitution seems to be considered ‘normal’ or ‘acceptable’ activities for these night clubs. Spoiler alert, they aren’t, and the South Korean police don’t think so either… thus a massive series of police investigations into this dark underbelly of K-pop.

Most recently Yang Hyun-suk, founder of YG Ent (Psy’s label) was taken for questioning regarding allegations of the use of prostitutes for foreign business client at a dinner in July 2014. Psy and Yang were, and remain, incredibly close friends so naturally Psy was present at this dinner.

Nothing has been released by South Korean authorities regarding Psy’s witness statement.

Avicci lives on as new music is released

A little over a year since Avicii’s tragic passing, the album he was working on has been released entitled ‘Tim’, his birth name. The tracks, many of which were collaborations, were finished as he had wanted them to sound.

The highly anticipated album dropped this month along with a music video tribute to his life for the single ‘Heaven’.

Summer bangers!

It’s safe to say that Glasto has taken centre stage this month as we’re now deep into festival season! With a steamy release from Shawn Mendes and Camilla Cabello too we’ve been treated amongst the madness. Community Festival has just kicked off too so stay tuned till next month’s roundup to hear about the shenanigans that happened there too.

Like always I’ve also put together a playlist of tracks I’ve discovered for the first time alongside some of my favourite summer hits for you to get a groove onto in all this glorious sunshine.

Author

Sophie McCarthy
Contributor

I'm a freelance photography working primarily within music and I write a lot of the music stuff on here, including the 'monthly music news' blogs so look out for those! I'm based in London and currently intern at an artist and tour management company with offices in Metropolis Studios and love writing for Voice whenever I can...